Joe's Promise
by cutsycat
Summary: On Hiatus - Joe has become an underwear model and moved to New York. Stephanie has gotten training and become a Rangeman employee. The Merrymen have gotten tired of waiting and now who knows what will happen.
1. Meeting Joe and Teddy Bear?

**Author:** Cutsycat  
**Spoilers/Warnings/Disclaimer:**These are JE's characters. All data/information included in this fic I have made up. I have changed Joe's character and turned him into an underwear model.

**Joe's Promise**

"Hey, Cupcake," Joe says to me.

I slowly turn around, noticing Joe for the first time. I have been standing and staring at Joe's new apartment for the last couple of minutes. He has been living here for about a year, but this was my first time seeing it. "Hey, Joe"

"What are you doing down here, Cupcake? New York isn't your normal stomping ground."

"Well, one of my skips decided to skip town and I traced her to here. Seeing as how I made you that promise to visit, I decided to stop by and see how your new job is going."

"The job's great. I'm really enjoying it. It sure beats chasing criminals and seeing all the dead bodies you find."

"So you like showing off your ass, huh?"

"Well, everyone knows I have the best one in the world."

"In the world, Joe? I don't know about that I think Ric and his merry men all have pretty good asses, too. I'd be hard pressed to pick between all of you."

"Yeah, but they're not the ones who are underwear models. My job allows me greater conceit when it comes to things like that."

"Oh, it does, does it?" I ask, rolling my eyes.

"Yep. So are you actually licensed here in New York? Cause if you're not you may have some problems getting your skip back to Trenton."

"Of course I'm licensed, Joe. Do you really think I would be chasing a skip to New York if I wasn't licensed here?"

"I wouldn't put it past you, however, I believe you when you say you're licensed. How long have you been licensed? How did you end up getting licensed in New York?"

"Well to explain that you would have to know some of the background of the situation. How much have you heard from back home, since you moved here?"

"Very little. I know that you started working for Rangeman shortly after I left, but I never heard why or what has happened after that. When I ask my mom, she just tells me that you haven't gotten into any scrapes recently."

"Well, actually, I was working for Rangeman before you left, you just never realized it. Didn't you ever start to wonder why I was working so many surveillance jobs for Ranger? I told you I was just helping Ranger out, but the truth was he had hired me. "

"What? Boy I am I glad we're no longer dating. I would have completely flipped out back then, but since Ranger's no longer a threat to me, I don't have to worry about it."

"Yeah, well, anyway. After you left Ranger decided that my performance could be improved, so he had Tank, Lester, Bobby, Cal and some other Rangeman start teaching me self-defense and strategy. Once I have the skills, I would normally just spar with whoever's off duty, but since I was so far behind in the skills needed, they had to give me a crash course. As a final test of my abilities, Ranger made me take the tests to get licensed in about 5 different states and if I passed all of them then I passed the training."

"I take it you passed the training."

"Yep. I passed with flying colors."

"That's great, so you passed all your tests?"

"Yep, however, when I said I passed with flying colors, I meant that literally. Each license I have is a different color." I reach into my purse and start pulling out all the licenses. "See. I have a blue one, a green one, a yellow one, a white one, a black one, and a red one."

"Well, I recognize the blue one because that's New Jersey's and I know the yellow one is New York even though I haven't actually seen it, but what are all the other colors?"

"Well, Rhode Island is white, Pennsylvania is black, Delaware is red, and Connecticut is green. Then, of course, some of the Rangeman guys decided to throw me a congratulations party and decorated the conference room in red, black, white, blue, green, and yellow. Fortunately, they didn't use anything permanent or Ranger would have had their hide."

"Yeah, definitely doesn't sound like Ranger's thing. So who's the skip? Maybe I can help you locate her."

"Her name is Sharon Maleah. Do you know her?"

"Shit. Of course I know her. She's my girlfriend."

"Do you know what she got charged with?"

"Of course not. I thought she was just a sweet little thing. How was I supposed to know that she was wanted for something?"

"Have you really lost base with your cop friends that much Joe? Well, let me fill you in on your girlfriend. It says here that she was arrested for possession, carrying, and assaulting a police officer."

"Everyone carries, even my grandmother. What was she in possession of?"

"Says here she had about 2 kilos of marijuana on her person when she was arrested."

"What's the bit about assaulting a police officer?"

"Seems she was pulled over for unsafe driving and the officer saw the marijuana in her car and tried to arrest her and she didn't cooperate and assaulted him."

"Unfortunately that sounds like something she would do. Here let me talk to her for you. Then I'll set it up, so that you can take her back to Trenton and get her bonded out again. Does that sound good to you?

"That sounds great. You sure you won't need any help with her?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Give me about 12 hours and I'll get back to you about the details."

"Ok. I'll see you later, Joe."

"Bye Steph. I'll give you a call when I get it worked out. Your number's still the same, right?"

"Yep."

"Ok." He says as he walks into his apartment closing the door behind him.

Walking back to my car, I pull out my cellphone and press speed dial #2. Speed dial #2 is the Rangeman control room. On the other end of the line, I hear, "Report."

"Steph reporting in, Bobby. I talked with Joe and it seems the skip is his girlfriend. Right now, I'm waiting to hear back from Joe about the best plan for picking her up and taking her back."

"That's great, Bombshell. Keep us posted." Click.

Climbing into the car, I think, "I'm glad I went ahead and had the boys book me a hotel. It looks like it's going to be awhile." I drive to the hotel happily enjoying the thought of getting some shut-eye before talking with Joe again.

Walking up to the front desk I tell the guy standing behind the desk in a smart looking black suit, "I have a reservation under Stephanie Plum."

"Let me check. It says here that suite 316 is yours."

"A suite? I thought it was just a single room. Can you tell me who changed the reservation?"

"Well, let me see." He pauses. " Hmmm. That's very interesting."

"What? What is it?"

"Well, according to the information here, a Mr. Lester Santos called and had it changed to a double room and then a Mr. Theodore Bear called and had it changed to a suite."

"Really? I wonder why? And who is Mr. Theodore Bear?"

"The other interesting thing is that it says they're both checked into your suite, right now."

"How odd. I guess I'm not going to get the rest I was hoping for, then."

"Well it just so happens that your original single room is still available if you would like to stay there."

"No, thanks. I think these arrangements will be fine for now, but I may change my mind after talking with the gentleman in my suite."

"Ok. Well, let us know if you need anything else." He hands me the keys to my room.


	2. Teddy Bear is?

**Joe's Promise Part 2**

"Hello! Anybody home?"

"Hey, Steph. This is for you." Lester says as he hands her a pure white Lily.

"Wow! Thanks. What is this for?"

"Does it have to be for anything? I was just thinking of you, ALRIGHT?"

"Geez. You don't have to bite my head off. What's the matter?"

"Nothing."

"It's obviously not nothing, but if you don't want to talk about it that's fine. By the way why are you here? I can't imagine that you would come here for the sole purpose of giving me a flower."

"What's wrong with bringing you a flower? "

"Nothing, just seems like a long distance to travel if that's your only purpose. Do I have another crazy after me or something?"

"No, God no. I just wanted to hang out with you and spend some time with you. You're a lovely woman and I would love it if you'd go out with me to dinner tonight."

"Dinner? Tonight? Like a date?"

"Yes, Stephanie, like a date."

"I can't imagine why you would like to date me, but sure I'll go to dinner with you tonight. There's only one slight problem. I'm waiting for Joe to call me back and give me an idea of when the best time to go after my skip would be, so we may have to work around that? Is that alright?"

"That shouldn't be an issue."

"But I may be." Tank walks into the living room.

"Tank? What are you doing here? They didn't tell me that you were going to be here. Wait a minute there was one other person besides Lester up here. Oh my god. I can't believe it. You're Mr. Teddy Bear." I collapsed on the floor laughing my head off.

"Steph." Pause. "Stephanie." Pause. "Steph. If you don't stop right this minute. There will be hell to pay."

"Aww. Come on, Teddy. You don't want to hurt me. Plus now that I know you're real name you've lost a lot of your intimidation factor."

"Stop it, Steph. Nobody's allowed to call me by my real name especially at work."

"Well, we're not at work, right now and I've never been good at following the rules."

"Fine, you can call me by my real name, but not at work and you can't tell anyone else my real name."

That just starts the laughter again, "You're a teddy bear. Just a great big teddy bear."

"Enough already, Steph, we have other things we need to deal with."

"Like what?" I ask, the laughs slowly subsiding.

"Like the fact that I also want to take you out on a date tonight."

"What? You do? Why? And why now?"

"Well, you've always been a special person, but I always thought that you and Ranger had a thing going. Morelli's been gone for a while, however, and Ranger still hasn't made a move. I finally got tired of waiting for him to come to his senses and decided that if he didn't know a good thing when he saw it that it was his loss."

"Ranger and me? An item? After the way he treated me? You've got to be kidding me."

"What did Ranger do to you?"

"You mean you don't know?"

"No, Steph we don't know. He hasn't told us."

"Well then maybe you should ask Mr. My Life Doesn't Lend Itself To Relationships, what he did to me. As for going on a date tonight, Teddy, I'm afraid Lester got here first, but I'd love to go on a date with you another night. That is as long as you don't have a problem with me dating Lester and you at the same time. Oh, and Lester if you have an issue with Tank dating me you may want to reconsider." I smile at them and put a swing into my step as I walk to my room.

Lester waits for me to shut the door, not realizing that I'm listening at the door and can hear the whole conversation. "Man, why did you have to come up here. I was hoping to have the Bombshell to myself for once."

"For once? What do you mean? You partner with her all the time."

"That's different and you partner with her almost as much as I do."

"This is so bothersome. I really don't want Steph to be dating anyone else, but I guess I have no choice."

"Me either."

"I'm just glad nobody else decided to show up to this party. Then it would have really been every man for himself."

"How many of the other guys do you think will want to date her once they find out that she's dating both of us?"

"I don't know, man. I would expect Bobby to and maybe Ranger will actually grow a set when he realizes she's dating both of us. Hal or Cal might throw their hat in too.

"That sucks. I better go make sure that everything's set up for my date with Steph, so that the once tonight is over nobody else will stand a chance. Later, man." Lester dashes into his room.

Tank watches Lester disappear and shakes his head before hurrying into his room to start planning his date, so that he'll be able to top whatever Lester plans.

Hearing both doors close, I flop down on the bed in my thinking position. Before I can even start to contemplate that other Rangemen may want to date me, blackness surrounds me.

&&&

My head hurts. Oh no, that's just the vibrations of the phone. "Stephanie here."

"Stephanie, it's your mother and what kind of way is that to answer the phone?"

"Hi mom." Sigh. What does she want now?

"What's this I hear about you being in New York?"

"I'm just out of town on a business trip."

"Why didn't you tell me you were leaving town? I shouldn't have to hear thru the gossip mill that my own daughter has left town whether it's a business trip or not. You never left town when you were with Joseph and if you did you always told me you were leaving. Are you going to get back together with Joseph? I hear he's in New York, now."

"I wasn't expecting to be here overnight. It was just supposed to be a quick trip and now maybe you'll understand how I felt when Joe left town without telling me and NO I'm not going to get back together with Joseph. Both he and I know we won't work. Why can't you just accept that it's my life and let me lead it? I'm 30 years old for Christ's sake."

"Well if you aren't getting back together with Joseph why am I hearing about you sharing a suite or double room with a guy or was it two? The gossip was a bit confusing."

"It's nothing to worry about. Some of my coworkers were feeling a bit overprotective and felt the need to join me up here."

"Overprotective? What do they need to protect you from? Oh my god. Do you have another crazy after you?" Only with my mother could a conversation get this screwed up.

"No, nothing like that. You don't need to worry. They don't need to protect me from anything that's why they're overprotective."

"Don't tell me not to worry. I'm your mother. I will always worry about you." Make it stop. Make it stop.

"Yes, mom, but I'm 30 now. It's my life and you don't need to worry about me. I will tell you if something happens that you need to know. Otherwise don't worry about it and trust me to take care of myself. Ranger trained me. And speaking of training I really need to get back to it. Talk to you later. Bye." Thank god that's over.


	3. The start of the date

**Joe's Promise Part 3**

I flop back down onto my bed and stare at the ceiling trying to relax after the stress of that phone call. Knock. Knock. Knock. "What?"

"Hey, Gorgeous. You presentable?"

I look down at my clothes from earlier today. I guess I had been too tired earlier to think about changes clothes."Yeah. Come on in."

"You heard from Joe, yet, Beautiful?"

"No. Hopefully, he'll call soon. If not I'll call him in an hour or so."

"Oh. I just heard you on the phone and thought maybe it was Joe."

"Oh. Jeez. Don't remind me." I groan, once again flopping back down, my head landing on the pillows.

"Why? What happened?"

"The usual." I shrug. "My mom called."

"You can't let her get you down. After all, you have a date with me tonight and it would hurt my feelings if you didn't have fun." He flashes me a big grin.

I can't help smiling back. "Ok. I won't be sad any longer. Have you figured out what we're doing tonight?"

"Of course. I had it all planned out before I asked you."

"Don't lie to me. I heard you and Teddy talking."

"Fine." He rolls his eyes. "I had it mostly planned out. I knew what I wanted to do. I just had to find a place that would actually let me do it, especially on such short notice."

"So where are we going?"

"Ah, ah, ah." He shakes his finger at me. "It's a surprise. You'll find out tonight."

"Fine, but what do I wear."

"What you have on is fine or if you want to change it just needs to be slightly warm and dressy, but comfortable. I don't want you injuring yourself for fashion. You hear me."

"I hear you. What time do we leave?"

"As soon as you're ready."

"Crap. That means I have to hurry. I still have a shower to take and I have to find the right outfit."

"Steph. Don't panic. We don't have to be there at a set time. Take all the time you need. There's no need to rush."

"Ok. thanks. I'll see you when I'm ready and hopefully, Joe'll have called by then."

"Ok. Beautiful."

I smile at him and slowly shut the door watching him until I can't see him anymore not wanting to miss any facial expression. Finally, the door is closed and I go about getting ready. First things first, I need to take my shower and then decide what to wear. I take my time in the shower fully relaxing before getting every part of my body clean. After I'm done I look at the time and realize I've spent nearly an hour in the shower. Before getting dressed I decide to check and see if I have any messages on my cell. I don't so, I decide to quickly pull on my rangeman outfit in case I need to leave in a hurry after talking with Joe.

Ring. Ring. Ring. Voicemail. "Hey Joe, I was wanting to check back on what's happening with Sharon. Is it setup, so I can take her back, yet? I've got a date tonight, so call me on my cell and we'll work something out."

Guess I'd better change into something more dressy, so that Lester and I can go. Hopefully, it won't be too big a deal if Joe calls in the middle of our date. After looking through the clothes I brought with me, I finally decided on a blue sundress. Walking out into the main area, I see Tank and Lester sitting on the couch watching a basketball game on the TV. Hearing my door open they both turn and look at me.

"Wow, Steph. I don't think you've ever looked more beautiful." Lester says staring at me.

"Damn. Steph. Will you look this beautiful for our date?" Tank asks.

"I don't know. Depends where you take me. When is our date anyway?"

"Well, if it works for you maybe we can do it tomorrow night. Either here or in Trenton depending on how things work out with your skip. Does that work for you?"

"I think that would work unless I end up needing to work that night. So if you can work around work then we can certainly do it tomorrow."

"That's great. I'll get back to you about time after we hear what's happening with your skip and what if anything you're needed for as far as work goes. Ok?"

"Ok."

"Well that's great and all, but have you heard from Joe, yet?"

"No, I haven't. I figure we'll go out on our date and then hopefully Joe will call my cell. At which point we may need to cut the date short or interrupt it or something."

"That's fine, but if we're expecting to be interrupted we should get started as soon as possible, so let's head out."

"Ok."

Lester is nice. He actually rode the elevator down with me instead of forcing me to take the stairs like Ranger would. We arrive at the parking lot and Lester beeps his car, a silver lexus. We get in and he takes off driving smoothly. It almost seems as if the cars not even touching the ground. That's how smooth it feels. I haven't spent a lot of time in New York City, so I had no idea where we were going and just watched the beautiful horizon. After 20 minutes or so, Lester stops the car and we get out. He takes my hand and leads me up the steps to the Statue of Liberty. The door is locked, but Lester just walks up to the security guard, "Leonard. This is Stephanie Plum. You may have heard of her."

"The Bombshell Bounty Hunter."

"Yep."

"I didn't really blow up the funeral home."

"I'm sure you didn't Miss Plum. So what brings you by here, Lester."

"You know. Is it all set up? I can't wait to show Steph the view from the crown."

"Yeah, it's set up, but you owe me big."

"Come on, Steph, the Statue of Liberty awaits."

Leonard unlocks the door and we start climbing the stairs. It seems to go on forever, but then we were walking up 354 steps, so that probably makes sense. After what seems like 4 hours, but was probably closer to a half hour or an hour we reached the top. The view was breathtaking, but that's not all that was up on the top. Lester had gone to a lot of work to set the stage just right. There was a table set with a candlelit dinner for two, right in front of the great view of the skyline. In the background is the most beautiful and romantic music. Not sure where it is coming from, I look around and see a violinist and a floutist over in the corner.

"Would you like to eat first or would you like to do one of the other entertainments planned first?"

Just then my stomach made itself heard. Blushing slightly, "Eat, of course. This is me we're talking about."

"Ok. Have a seat then."

"So what kind of food did you get me? It's not any of this my body is a temple crap that Ranger eats is it?"

"Nope. Sorry. Hope you weren't expecting that. What you get today will be a delight for the tastebuds and a feast for the senses."


End file.
